'TDN Rising Star' Zozos (Munnings), most recently runner-up to Epicenter (Not This Time) in the GII Louisiana Derby Mar. 26, continued his preparations for the May 7 GI Kentucky Derby with a five-furlongs work that was timed in 1:00.20 Friday morning at Churchill Downs.
Breezing in the company of his GI Longines Kentucky Oaks-bound stablemate Turnerloose (Nyquist), the Barry and Joni Butzow homebred was out at 5:30 a.m. and broke off about a length behind the GII Rachel Alexandra S. heroine before galloping along through fractions of :24 flat and :48.40. The move began at the half-mile pole and concluded with Zozos on even terms with Turnerloose at the seven-eighths marker. Zozos galloped out three-quarters of a mile in 1:13.60.
“He's a really smart horse,” said jockey Florent Geroux, who will ride Zozos's GI Arkansas Derby-winning stablemate Cyberknife (Gun Runner) in the Derby. “He's starting to come into his own and it was a really nice work this morning. I settled back of [Turnerloose] and he finished up nicely with her. Both horses worked well.”
Zozos 5F from the half-mile pole 1:00.60. He started one length back of #KyOaks contender Turnerloose and finished even at the 7/8 pole. #KyDerby pic.twitter.com/5HiXJLY5yx
— Kevin Kerstein (@HorseRacingKK) April 15, 2022
Hidden Brook Farm and Black Type Thoroughbreds' Hidden Connection (Connect) came out shortly after the Cox pair and covered a similar distance in 1:00 flat, pulling up six furlongs in a strong 1:12.60 with ReyLu Gutierrez aboard, who said the work was “awesome.”
Secret Oath (Arrogate) will face her peers in the Oaks, having finished third to Cyberknife and Barber Road (Race Day) in the Arkansas Derby and returned to the tab Friday morning. The Briland Farm homebred was timed in a slick :59.20 (:12.40, :23.60, :35.20), and Luis Saez, who takes over from Luis Contreras for the Oaks, was in to put the filly through her paces.
“I talked to [jockey] Luis [Contreras] after the race and he was sort of surprised with how much of an explosive kick she had at the three-eighths pole,” said Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, whose last Oaks victory came courtesy of Overbrook Farm's Seaside Attraction (Seattle Slew) in 1990. “With that explosive kick at that point in the race, it was a little too much too soon. She got shuffled back at the start and got into contention but it was too much to ask. We ran in the Arkansas Derby for a million-and-a-quarter [dollars] and I thought we were the best horse going into the race and I still think we were the best.”
Secret Oath 5F :59.20. Out 6F 1:12. #KyOaks pic.twitter.com/933B6s4oDk
— Kevin Kerstein (@HorseRacingKK) April 15, 2022
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